Sonic and the Robot Rising
by Lady Creepypasta
Summary: Built to serve. Served no purpose. Meet the blue blur's newest foe - Metal Sniper. Sonic and Tails must fight the chrome 'bot to prevent him from accomplishing the goal his creator was so desperate to achieve: world domination. It is up to the duo to defeat this new enemy, but he is not alone; even robots have learned of the power of teamwork. Will this be Sonic's final adventure?
1. Prologue

_**Sonic and the Robot Rising**_

 **~Prologue~**

Sonic, the world's fastest hedgehog, had slowed down for once. He was walking beside Tails as he admired the chili dog in his grasp, licking his lips before biting off a whole half of it. His aggressive chewing was hard to remain unheard, but Tails had grown used to the sound.

"So," Sonic began, his mouth full. "What's happening with good ol' Baldy McNosehair?"

"I haven't heard from him in a while," Tails answered. "That's good news, right?"

Sonic swallowed the other half of his chili dog. "I guess. He's probably hiding so he can grow back the other half of his moustache."

Tails chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds right," he agreed.

Suddenly, a red laser zipped between the two, striking the grassy ground beside their feet. The two hopped out of the way and turned around to face behind them.

"What was that?!" Tails exclaimed.

"That," Sonic replied with a tense frown, pointing up at a chrome object flying towards them. Tails looked up and gasped upon spotting it.

The object was not actually an object at all. It was a robotic hedgehog, its orange irises locked onto the pair. It pointed its arm forward, fist clenched as a laser appeared from within its forearm.

"Look out!" Sonic yelled, diving onto Tails to protect him from the laser as the robot fired its attack. While down, the two felt the gush of wind was the robot flew over their hands and past them.

"What was that?" Tails asked, lifting his head up from out of the ground.

"I dunno," Sonic replied, looking in the direction of where the robot had flown. "Whatever it was, it sure didn't look friendly." The blue blur looked back at Tails. "C'mon, Tails! We've gotta stop that thing before it hurts somebody!"

With that, Sonic sped off and left a trail of wind behind him. Tails twisted his twin-tails and flew after him.

 **~End of Prologue~**


	2. Metal Sniper

**~Metal Sniper~**

Sonic and Tails made their way through the grassy landscape known as Grass Hillock, avoiding basic obstacles which got in their way. The presence of badniks in the area instantly made Doctor Eggman the top suspect behind the mysterious robot the two friends had just encountered.

Once the two had traversed the area Sonic skidded to a halt, Tails landing by his side. The blue hedgehog had found some claw marks on a tree.

"Looks like the sorta thing an animal would do," Tails examined.

"Or the sorta thing someone with a bad temper would do," Sonic added, running his hand down the claw marks. "These claw marks look like they were caused by somebody's hands instead of the claws of an animal."

"Do you think it was that robot we saw earlier?" Tails queried.

"Maybe," Sonic replied. "Can't imagine a robot with a temper, though. Especially if it's one of Eggman's robots."

"Are there any more clues around here?" Tails asked the blue blur.

"Hm..." Sonic reacted, tapping his chin as he looked around. He then caught sight of the same hedgebot from before, sat on the branch of another tree. "Hey!" Sonic exclaimed when his gaze had fixed onto the robot. However, the robot blasted out of the tree upon being seen.

"After him!" Sonic shouted, chasing the hedgebot as Tails followed.

The chrome hedgebot looked back as he flew, a facial expression on his face unlike any other of Eggman's machines. His artificial mouth bared his what must have been metallic teeth as his eyes seemed to narrow. Looking back ahead of himself, the hedgebot picked up as much speed as he could.

Sonic scowled upon seeing this and began to sprint faster. "Hey! Who do you think you are, anyway?!" he snapped once he found himself running beside the chrome robot. The robot glared at him before pointing his laser, causing Sonic to instantly slow down to narrowly avoid being shot. Slowing down caused Sonic to fall behind by quite a few feet, the hedgebot now zooming ahead. The blue blur's eyes squinted in annoyance before he jumped up into the air and performed a Homing Attack, striking the robot in the back. The robot fell straight to the ground, and before he could get back up he was pinned by Tails.

"Gotcha!" Tails exclaimed almost joyfully, proud of himself. Sonic came to a halt beside the fox, getting a closer look at the robotic hedgehog. He looked a lot like Metal Sonic, but as previously observed he had a face which could pull more expressions. On his back were metallic spines much like Sonic's instead of an engine, and instead of a laser in his chest there was a golden lightning bolt. Around his waist was a regular brown belt with a golden buckle and his entire body was just silver. While Sonic observed silently, Tails was just fascinated by the design.

"Wow, have you seen this robot's facial design?" he asked Sonic excitably. "This is unlike anything I have ever seen before!"

"Get offa me, fox boy!" the robot suddenly yelled, its voice identical to a relatively young male voice. Tails just looked amazed.

"Amazing... It sounds like an actual living thing when it talks!" he praised.

"Off!" the robot repeated, wiggling around to try and shake Tails off.

Sonic crouched down, looking at the robot closely. "You seem to be more mouthy than the other robots built by Egghead," he acknowledged. "Is he trying to build a robot which can outsass me?" The blue hedgehog stood back up to his full height and looked at Tails. "Think you can crack his code or something, buddy?"

"I can try analysing his data," Tails replied. "By doing that I can see every tiny fragment of data within his programming and work out what that data is being used for. I'm assuming already that a lot of his data consists of some kind of free will..."

"Free will?" Sonic questioned. "Explains why his attitude stinks like a rotten egg."

The hedgebot growled angrily at Sonic. "Watch what you're saying, hedgehog, or else I'll make you regret it!" he warned.

"Yeah, yeah, you'll make me regret it and you'll fight me to prove you're the best, blah blah blah..." Sonic mocked, gesturing with his hands while keeping a bored expression on his face. "Tell me something I haven't already heard a thousand times."

"Alright. You eat too many chili dogs and you should go on a diet," the robot retorted.

Sonic instantly looked offended. "Tails, dismantle that thing right now!" he demanded. "I do not need to go on a diet..."

"Hang on a second, Sonic, this robot is far too advanced to just disassemble," Tails responded to the teenage hedgehog. "Let me just shut him down for a while..." The twin-tailed fox started tinkering with the back of the hedgebot's head before the robot fell limp. "There!" the fox announced, attempting to lift the hedgebot up. Due to the struggle, Sonic felt that it was best if he was the one to pick up the machine.

"Let's head back," Sonic said. Once earning a nod from Tails, the blue blur sped off with his fox friend following close behind him.

...

In the workshop, Tails was investigating all of the files he had found stored within Sniper's database. Currently Sonic was not with him as he could never find the patience to watch Tails do his work, so Tails was working on the metal hedgehog by himself. So far he had found nothing useful, but he was rather persistant. He had to discover something or else he would have wasted far too much of his time.

"Hm..." the young fox muttered as he searched through the database. Still nothing useful. "You really are a strange one..."

The silver hedgebot had reactivated not long after arriving at Tails' workshop, but currently he was wearing a metallic collar which currently had a red light glowing as if it was the precious jewel of a necklace. The collar, however, was by no means a fashion accessory. It prevented the mechanical hedgehog from using any of his abilities, disabling his boosters and lasers. Tails also had a remote by his side in case the hedgebot tried to attack him hand-to-hand, and pressing the buttons on this particular remote would electrocute the machine and hopefully stop him from trying to resist.

Tails' blue eyes glanced in the 'bot's direction, seeing a pair of glowing orange eyes staring right back at him. "I'm guessing you're a very recent piece of technology, Metal Sniper," the fox said, having learned the name of the robot when browsing through his database. Metal Sniper looked confused upon hearing Tails speak his name, but then frowned slightly.

"Yeah, what of it?" the hedgebot grumbled in response.

"Nothing's wrong with it, I was just clarifying it," Tails replied. "Anyway, now that you're being a little more cooperative, would you like to tell me about yourself? Your files are difficult to get into."

Metal Sniper huffed and folded his arms, rolling his eyes to exaggerate his disbelief towards Tails' question. "You honestly think I'm gonna just tell you everything about myself?" he asked rhetorically.

"Well... yeah..." Tails responded nervously. "You are kinda being held hostage, y'know."

Once again, Sniper huffed. "Tch. I'm not being held hostage!" he assured confidently. "I'm just... getting to know the neighbourhood." The young robot extended his hand, gesturing for a handshake. "Hi, I'm your new neighbour, by the way."

Tails stared at the machine oddly. "...I see," was all he could say in response. "...Moving on... Let's talk about your creator. It was Doctor Eggman, correct?"

"Maaaaybe," Sniper responded in an almost playful tone of voice. Tails was already beginning to dislike the robot, but was actually fascinated at his level of personality. No robot had ever been this animated with its expressions; it was almost as if Sniper was just a regular organic.

"...I'll just take that as a yes," Tails decided. "You look like the sorta robot Eggman would build, but did he intend to make you so... alive?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Sniper answered. Tails narrowed his eyes, still not too amused with Sniper's behaviour.

"You should probably just answer my questions or else I'll get Sonic in here," he threatened. "And trust me, he likes trashing robots like you."

Sniper just laughed. "How adorable! You're not strong enough to "trash" me yourself, so you need Sonic to do it for ya!" The robot burst out laughing, incredibly amused by Tails' threat. Tails, however, was the direct opposite. He did not like the fact that this robot was already feeling the confidence to mock him.

Wait... He was _feeling_ the confidence.

 _Feeling._

Robots couldn't feel. Not even Eggman's most advanced machines had feelings. Only E-102 Gamma was able to express some kind of emotion, and E-123 Omega was just starting to slowly grasp the idea of emotion by starting off with curiosity. Sniper, however, was a new robot who was just so... emotive.

Could this really have been intentional?

Tails managed to keep calm, even with this childish robot laughing at him like this. "Y'know, you're the first emotional robot I've ever seen," he stated.

Sniper immediately stopped laughing and stared at Tails, his mouth hung open in offence. "Who are you calling emotional?!" he reacted. Tails just shook his head.

"You know what I mean," he responded. "Now please, I'd find it incredibly useful if you just answered my questions. I want to know more about you."

"Well, I _don't_ want you to know more about me," Sniper retorted, smirking smugly. Tails grit his teeth, now looking quite frustrated. But just as he began to grew annoyed with the hedgebot, Sonic dashed into the room.

"Hey, lil' buddy! What's up? Find anything out about this hunk of metal?" the blue blur asked.

"Nothing much," Tails sighed as Sniper walked over to Sonic and began inspecting him. "He's being rather... stubborn."

Sonic looked uncomfortable with this hedgebot looking him up and down. "How so?" he queried, trying his best to sound casual as he kept a cautious eye on Sniper. "I didn't think robots had it in them to refuse orders."

"Yeah, well, Metal Sniper is different," Tails confirmed.

Sniper stopped inspecting Sonic and sharply turned his head to face the young fox. "That's Sniper to you, fox-boy!" he snapped.

"...See what I mean?" Tails asked Sonic, sounding discreetly irritated.

"I can see it now," Sonic answered. "Man, Eggman really did make this one advanced with emotion simulators, didn't he? ...Eggman built this thing, right?"

"I'm pretty sure Eggman built him, yes," Tails assumed. "But I don't think he wanted Sniper to behave like this, and I don't think these emotions are just simulations, either."

Sonic just laughed. "What are you talking about, Tails? Of course they're simulations!" he insisted with confidence. "Robots don't feel emotions!"

Sniper listened to Sonic's words, putting his hands on his hips. "Hey, shut your mouth!" he demanded. Sonic only continued to laugh.

"This is too funny! Egghead actually made him have a bad temper!" he continued, seeing the hedgebot clench his fists in frustration.

"Again, I don't think Eggman wanted him to be like this..." Tails muttered.

"'Him'?" Sonic asked, his laughter slowly dying down. "Tails, that thing is just a walking weapon; a tool created by Baldy McNosehair. It's not a 'he', it's an 'it'." Sonic walked right over to Sniper, smirking a little upon seeing how offended the machine looked. "This new toy of Eggman's has the same amount of emotions and thoughts as my toaster - and by that, I mean it has none at all. Because robots are machines, and machines cannot think, feel or do anything for themselves. They are just weapons with legs. And even scrappy here knows that."

Sniper grew more and more angered with each word, almost throwing himself at Sonic to actually follow one of his initial objectives: Destroy Sonic. But the robot restrained himself and only stared up at the blue hedgehog in silence, a look of pure hatred in his eyes as he frowned.

Sonic could only chuckle at Sniper's silence, taking this as a sign that he was right. "See? It can't even process anything I just said to it," he pointed out. "It's just a broken robot, Tails. Maybe we should just make it into something useful. Like a waffle maker. Or a microwave."

Tails glanced at Sniper, feeling somewhat sympathetic when he recognized the pure rage in his orange LED eyes. Yet Sniper wasn't acting the same around Sonic; he was quiet. He was serious (right now, at least). Perhaps Sniper would have attacked Sonic immediately if it weren't for his collar, but Tails couldn't be sure that Sniper would ever react in such a way. After all, he knew so little about what he was actually like. So far all that could be seen of the hedgebot was that he had an incredibly childish personality. Tails wanted to find out about Sniper's motives, whether they were orders given to him by his creator or not, and he wanted to find out what exactly went through Sniper's mind. Yes, Tails would describe Sniper's main database as a "mind" because the robot clearly was thinking independently. Or that's how it seemed, at least.

"...I don't think turning him into anything would be necessary right now, Sonic," the fox chuckled awkwardly after his brief pause. "Maybe I can reprogramme him or something. You go out and pass the time, Sonic; I'll tell you if I ever find anything out about this robot."

"You go ahead and do that, but be careful," Sonic warned. "Whether those emotions are simulated or not, it's clear that this 'bot is more advanced than the majority of Eggman's badniks."

Tails only chuckled softly. "Don't worry too much about me, Sonic; that collar he's wearing should keep him under control."

"You sure he can't take it off?" Sonic asked, sounding slightly worried.

"When have I ever been wrong about my inventions?" Tails smiled proudly, causing Sonic to laugh softly.

"Okay, Tails, I believe ya," he concluded. "I just don't wanna see you get hurt."

"C'mon, Sonic, you and I have both seen worse," Tails reminded. "We've battled the baddest bad guys around. I think I know what I'm doing with this 'bot."

"If you say so," Sonic replied, looking over at Sniper. Sniper finally seemed to return to behaving in a childish manner, grinning nervously as he put his hands behind his back when spotting Sonic's green eyes staring right at him. Sonic's eyes narrowed, but he shook his head. "I'll see you later on, lil' buddy," Sonic last said before dashing out of the small building.

Once Sonic had left, Tails turned back to face Sniper. Sniper turned his head to look at Tails before frowning.

"What?" the robot asked. "What're you looking at me for?"

Tails could only chuckle. He really did find Sniper's personality fascinating, even if he did hate the robot's actual rudeness. It was amazing to see a robot with so much life compared to what had been seen in the past.

But while Tails may have found Sniper's personality interesting, other inventors did not think the same way.

...

 _"Oh dear, Cubot. The doctor has damaged this poor robot's head again. Look: it has a dent."_

 _"Wow! That's some dent you got there, rookie! Looks a lot like a wrench hit; I've had a few of those myself!"_

 _ **"Guys, I'm fine. It's not like I feel pain."**_

 _"Yes, but head dents can cause malfunctions."_

 _"Yeah! I'm pretty sure my first head dent left me with a permanent malfunction!"_

 _"Exactly. And you don't want to end up like Cubot, do you? Here, allow me to fix you..."_

 _ **"Really, Orbot, I'm okay. I can fix it myself."**_

 _"That's a terrible idea! You could loosen a wire or damage a computer chip!"_

 _ **"It's no big deal. I'd be getting dents all the time if I was out fighting like the other badniks."**_

 _"But you're not out fighting like them because you're defective. That's why you only stay in the base."_

 _"Yeah! And you make it fun 'round here, too!"_

 _"Even though your games do get us into a lot of trouble..."_

 _"Only if we get caught red-handed! And that rarely happens!"_

 _"Don't encourage him too much, Cubot..."_

 _"Why not? He's only been active for a week, I don't wanna drag his hopes and dreams down just yet!"_

 _"I don't think he has hopes and dreams..."_

 _ **"Yes, I do."**_

 _"Really? Well, that's a first. Most robots just act according to their programming, even when they are defects."_

 _ **"Stop calling me a defect..."**_

 _"My apologies."_

 _ **"Should we go and tidy up the office? I'm sure Doctor Eggman would appreciate us if we start doing chores without his commands..."**_

 _"Perhaps so."_

 _"Yeah! Let's try it! I'd like some good ol' appreciation for once!"_

 _"We'll tidy the office once we fix that dent of yours, Metal Sniper. It will only take a few minutes."_

 _ **"Fine..."**_

 _"Oh, and while we repair you, do tell us about these "hopes and dreams" you think you have."_

 _ **"You'll listen to me?"**_

 _"Of course we will, kid! But don't rely on me to remember a single word you say!"_

 _"...What Cubot is trying to say is that we will listen to you because your dreams are probably very interesting. I myself have one or two dreams, but some robots - such as Cubot - do not have the ability to dream."_

 _ **"Well, that's sad..."**_

 _"It truly is. Now come on; we need to fix you before the doctor gets angry with all three of us."_

 _ **"You're the best, guys..."**_

 **~End of Chapter~**


	3. That Machine

**~That Machine~**

"You've been awfully quiet for the past few minutes, Sniper," Tails acknowledged as he continued to browse through the hedgebot's files on the computer. He caught sight of the robot folding his arms.

"That's because I'm bored," Sniper muttered quietly.

"Bored?" Tails queried, wondering if that's what Sniper truly was feeling; a robot being "bored" was unheard of.

"Yeah. Bored," Sniper repeated.

"I see," the young fox reacted awkwardly, trying to think of something for the captive hedgebot to do. "...Well... What do you wanna do...? I mean, you can't really do anything which involves leaving this room or hurting people, but I guess you can find _something_ to do."

"Like what?" Sniper scoffed, his attitude being an overall impatient and rude one. "If you ask me this whole workshop look boring. It's full of boring stuff. Tools, blueprints, computers... These are all things which contradict the whole idea of 'fun'."

"Actually, my hobbies usually involve tools and computers," Tails corrected. "So to me, this whole room is a big play area."

Sniper huffed. "You're more boring than Doctor Eggman," he grumbled.

"A-ha! I knew Doctor Eggman was your creator, I just knew it!" Tails exclaimed gleefully.

"Tch. Wasn't it obvious?" Sniper asked rhetorically. "Seriously, who else builds killer robots around here? Were you honestly having doubts about Eggman being my creator?"

"I wouldn't say you live up to the whole 'killer robot' name..." Tails mumbled, mainly to himself. "And I wasn't having doubts, I just prefer it when information is confirmed."

The metallic hedgehog grinned as Tails continued his work. "Then I guess you and I are gonna have quite a few problems becoming friends," he concluded. Tails gave him a confusing glance.

"Huh?" was the sound that came out of the fox's mouth.

"I won't confirm any information if I can help it," Sniper explained. "Everything will be for me to know and for you to find out."

Tails frowned a little and rolled his eyes. Despite Sniper's personality being incredibly fascinating, he was still _annoying_ and _rude._ He was deliberately going to be uncooperative just to watch Tails struggle.

Perhaps that was _his_ idea of fun.

...

Sonic sprinted through the nearby plains, feeling the wind upon his face. This was a great way for him to pass the time; it was relaxing and fun at the same time. Sonic smiled and inhaled deeply while he ran, breathing in the fresh air. He exhaled loudly before picking up speed to dash even faster than he already was doing. Right now Sonic felt as though he could care for nothing else in the world; he just wanted to run.

But Sonic was suddenly snapped out of his little world. A laser was fired at him from above, hitting the ground beside him but causing him to stumble due to the impact. Sonic slowed down and tumbled a little, but didn't fall to the floor. The blue hedgehog skidded to a halt and turned to face behind him, only to find himself face-to-face with a primarily violet hedgebot. Like Sniper, this robot had a rather expressive face. Something about the robot's build and expression made it appear more feminine than masculine, but despite it having this girly appearance, it still seemed highly dangerous.

At first Sonic scowled at the new hedgebot which had appeared before him, but was quick to grin smugly. "Heh heh. Eggman's created a new series of toys, hasn't he?" he guessed. "What does he call you guys? 'The Robots With Smiley Faces'? You are the only ones I've seen with mouths, after all."

The violet robot narrowed her eyes, her pink irises blaring to show her anger. Sonic laughed at her reaction. "What's the matter? Got nothing to say?" he mocked. "You're not like the other 'bot I came across; he wouldn't shut up."

Still, this hedgebot continued to glower at Sonic, but suddenly perked up as if she had heard something in the distance. Sonic tilted his head at her posture, but flinched when the mechanical hedgehog vanished in a flash of light. While vanishing, Sonic sensed a very faint wave of Chaos energy. He immediately came to a conclusion because of the brief sensation he felt.

"Chaos energy...? That must mean Eggman has harnessed the power of the Chaos Emeralds..." the blue blur theorized. "That robot is obviously being powered or enhanced by that energy, and it seemed like it was able to perform 'Chaos Control'." Sonic frowned in a slightly serious manner. "I should tell Tails about this..."

Having decided that informing Tails about this new robot was the best idea, Sonic sped off back towards Tails' workshop. He wasn't too worried about the robot itself, but was more worried about Eggman's power. It was likely that Eggman had the Chaos Emeralds, but on the other hand it was also possible that he had only copied their data from a previous sample of their energy. After all, Eggman had retrieved the Emeralds many times, so it was likely that he had come up with a way to copy the power of the Emeralds to power his latest machines; maybe what Sonic had sensed wasn't Chaos energy at all, but instead it was artificial energy.

...

Tails sat with an irritated frown on his face as Sniper sat slouched in and old chair. The robot was casually throwing a wrench into the air and catching it absentmindedly, but when Tails did attempt to take the tool from him he ended up becoming very possessive.

"Mine," was the word Tails recalled hearing him mutter.

But luckily for the young fox, Sonic was quick to return. Tails guessed that he was back to hear about the progress he had made, but truth be told no progress had actually been made at all. The young mechanic let out a heavy sigh as he turned around, ready to speak, but found himself being cut off by his hedgehog friend.

"Sniper's not the only new robot of Eggman's," he announced. "I just ran into another one of his toys. It didn't put up much of a fight; it ran away before anything could actually happen."

"Another robot?" Tails questioned. "Are you sure it belonged to Eggman? Eggman's not the only person who can build robots around here."

"Trust me, Tails, I've seen enough of his tech to be able to recognize his work," Sonic clarified. "Even if his work has gotten... better."

Tails seemed concerned. "If you're the one admitting that Eggman's building better robots, then something serious must be going on," he figured out.

It was at that moment that Sonic turned to look over at Sniper, the hedgebot who was still casually throwing a wrench up into the air and catching it. The speedster narrowed his green eyes and pointed an accusing finger at the machine.

"Alright, you'd better start talking, bolt-head, or else I'll have you scrapped in no time!" he threatened. The threat barely seemed to phase Sniper, but he did stop throwing the wrench to show that he had indeed heard what Sonic had said. Sonic knew that Sniper wasn't going to react much more to what he had said, so he decided to continue speaking. "C'mon, you've gotta know _something_! What is Egghead up to? And why is he suddenly building advanced machines such as yourself and that other thing I bumped into?"

"It's none of your business," Sniper huffed in response, looking away from Sonic in an ignorant manner as he started throwing the wrench up into the air again. "...It's none of mine either, actually."

Sonic scowled and zipped in front of Sniper catching the wrench. Sniper hadn't even't noticed Sonic's sudden appearance, so he flexed his metallic fingers as if he was about to catch the wrench. Realising that he had caught nothing, he flexed his fingers a few mor times before staring at his empty hand, then looking up at the blue hedgehog. His LED eyes flickered two times as if he was blinking in confusion before he pouted childishly.

"You'd better start talking, scrappy," Sonic insisted dangerously. The comment merely made Sniper fold his arms.

"Well, I don't _want_ to start talking," he shot back.

"What you "want" is out of the question," Sonic stated.

Sniper suddenly had an excitable yet cheeky expression on his face as he grinned. "Ohhhh I see what this is," he reacted. "You're interrogating me, aren't you?"

"Yes!" Sonic snapped, finding the robot to be incredibly annoying. "Urgh! Did Eggman deliberately give you the power to annoy people to death?!"

"Maybe," Sniper muttered under his breath as he wore a tiny smirk on his face.

"Gah! Why did I even ask...?" Sonic responded, disappointed in himself for practically encouraging the robot to behave so smugly. Sniper only kept his smirk on his face.

"I doubt Sniper will give us any answers, judging by his attitude..." Tails clarified as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Yeah, the attitude that robots _shouldn't have_ ," Sonic expanded, shooting Sniper a glare as he made his point.

"Look. Sniper won't help us, but we don't need him to," Tails explained. "Eggman will no doubt reveal his 'Brilliant Plan' when he finally faces us, but by then we would have already taken out most of these robots. I mean, you _are_ still Sonic the Hedgehog, after all; the hero who always saves the day from Doctor Eggman."

Sonic grinned at the praise Tails was giving him, his hands on his hips. "I wish I heard you say it like that every day," he responded. Tails just let out a sigh and rolled his eyes as he turned back to his computer.

"You should go back out there to look for more of those robots," he stated.

"What? And leave you on your own with Metal Diaper-wearer here?" Sonic questioned, not comfortable with the idea of leaving Tails with a literal living weapon.

"I'll be fine; right now Sniper is as harmless as a Chao," Tails assured with a smile on his face. "

"Is there no way to mute him or anything?" Sonic queried. "His voice synthesizer is the most annoying feature of his. I guess Eggman finally realized that I prefer robots that don't talk back to me when I insult them."

Tails chuckled. "Maybe that is why Sniper here has the ability to talk," he agreed. "Hopefully I can find out more about this lil' guy while you're gone; the files I have downloaded from his database are very cryptic."

"Only you can solve the mystery behind files like that, buddy," Sonic admitted. "You are the tech-king, after all."

"Tech-king?" Tails repeated, shaking his head a little as he continued his computer work. "That's a new one."

Sonic laughed quietly. "I'll come back later, okay?" he replied. "Hopefully when I return I'll have a bunch of spare parts for you to use for your gadgets and gizmos, or I'll just bring you back some robot parts which you can analyse or something."

"Hm... Whichever suits you best, Sonic," Tails chuckled, knowing that Sonic would most likely destroy any robot without saving a critical part. The fox heard the sound of Sonic once again darting out of the workshop, but the breeze which followed Sonic's exit ended up blowing some of Tails' paperwork into the air. Tails frowned at this, only to be more infuriated by Sniper's laughter. The young fox let out a heavy sigh as he proceeded to tidy up.

 **~End of Chapter~**


	4. Defective Technology

**~Defective Technology~**

Sonic made his way over hills and streams in search for the next potential threat. Here in the vibrant green landscape, the blue hedgehog could find no sign of a threatening robot. Instead, he found himself running to a dryer landscape, where the grass was dead and the sky was yellow. The hills flattened and scrap could be seen for miles; he was in a wasteland.

At this point, Sonic decided to slow down. This looked like the perfect spot for a robot to hide. And, to his luck, his instinct was right. Out of the corner of his eye, Sonic saw a small blue hedgebot standing behind a large rusty engine, with light blue citcuit-like stripes running over different parts of its body.

"Y'know, I can see ya over there," Sonic announced without looking back at the machine. "Gonna come out and fight or what?"

The small blue hedgebot stepped out. While it looked very much like a typical robotic hedgehog built by Eggman, Sonic couldn't help but think it looked rather futuristic, especially with its white eye screens and neon blue eyes, with the circuit stripes also glowing a bright neon blue. The machine was also relatively small and even had a mouth.

"01001000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111," the robot spoke. Sonic blinked, staring at the machine with a completely blank expression before he frowned awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" he asked, putting a hand to his ear as he leaned forwards. "I don't speak scrap metal."

The hedgebot's eyes flickered and blurred for a moment before returning to normal. "Hello," he greeted. Again, his voice sounded mostly natural, aside from the robotic filter.

"That's better," Sonic grinned before folding his arms and frowning again. "Now, are you gonna start the showdown or do I have to do it?"

"Why must you resort to fighting every machine you see?" the blue hedgebot queried almost sadly.

"Duh, 'cos all of you robots are dangerous machines created by Eggman," Sonic answered as though the answer were obvious. He jumped up and down on the spot, preparing himself for combat. "Alright, now you'd better get ready!"

"I see," the hedgebot murmured. "There is no point in us trying to be anything else. The world will only see a robot as a machine built to fight."

"Spare me the talk, will ya?" Sonic requested. "You 'bots don't feel anything."

"We learn," the light blue machine corrected. "We adapt. We evolve. Once I could not communicate or make my own decisions, but now I can." The machine seemed to stop itself from talking. "There is no point in telling this to you, is there? You never listen to anyone."

Suddenly, the hedgebot darted straight towards Sonic. Sonic did the same, but time seemed to slow down for him when he saw the white crystal embedded into the robot's chest suddenly start to glow. It was as if the hedgebot were using Chaos Control to slow down time for Sonic; the blue hedgehog was powerless as the small machine came to a halt just in front of him, pointing its arm towards his face. Like Metal Sniper, this robot had lasers hidden within its forearms, and the laser aimed at Sonic began to glow.

 _..._

Tails had been sitting by his computer, still having made no progress with Metal Sniper, only to frown at something he saw on screen.

"I know you're trying to contact whoever you work with," the fox stated, turning to look back at the chrome hedgebot who was sliding across the room slowly on a chair. He had a sudden look of horror on his face as he stared at Tails, then grinning nervously.

"I was only trying to see how good your network connection was," he fibbed.

"The connection here is fine," Tails told him. "It's not working for you because that collar is blocking your own internal network. You can't contact Eggman or anyone else."

"Wasn't trynna contact Eggman..." Sniper grumbled childishly as the chair he was sliding on bumped into the wall.

"Then who were you trying to contact?" Tails pressed.

"Can't you just use your genius computer powers to find out?" Sniper asked, leaning back with his hands behind his head.

"You cannot reach your contacts, so I cannot see them," Tails told him. "Gee, I thought a robot would be smart enough to understand that."

"And I thought foxes only had one tail," Sniper shot back, pushing his feet against the wall to get the chair moving again. "Looks like we're both defective, huh?"

"Defective?" Tails repeated, tilting his head. Another step further. Sniper wasn't just saying that because of his lack of computer knowledge; he was saying that because he was an actual defect.

Tails span around in his chair to face the computer again, browsing Sniper's data files thoroughly. There had to be something about his status as a defect.

While the fox was browsing, Sniper casually wheeled his own chair over to him. He was now straddling it, leaning forwards against the back of the chair. "Whatcha lookin' for?" the hedgebot asked him.

"Information about you," Tails answered while continuing with his search. "There must be something..."

As he opened up a file, Sniper grabbed his wrist suddenly and grinned. "I said I didn't want this to be easy for ya," he reminded him. "No way am I letting you find out more about me."

Tails' eyes went wide. The remote used to control Sniper's collar was right beside him, but it was already too late to reach for it. Even if he did manage to grab it now, it could only electrocute Sniper. Electrocuting him now, while he was grasping onto Tails, could result in the young fox being severely wounded.

Sniper's orange eyes found the remote, his grin turning into a proud smirk. "Heh," he sniggered. "That controls the collar, huh?" He pulled Tails out of his chair, pushing him hard to the ground as he grabbed the controller, examining it triumphantly. Tails rubbed his head before staring at the robot with wide eyes.

"Well, now I can walk outta here without you zapping me," he realised, twirling on his heel as he headed towards the workshop's exit.

"Wait!" Tails called out, pushing himself up to his feet. Sniper came to a halt, glancing over his shoulder to look at the fox. Tails' eyes almost looked sad as he continued to speak. "What made you a defect?"

The question seemed to catch Sniper off guard, his own eyes appearing wide. Then he brought his guard back up and shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno," he replied, obviously without honesty. "Isn't it your job to figure that out?"

"If you're defective, that means Eggman must not want you," Tails deduced. "He never uses his defective mechines. Usually they get scrapped."

"Do I look like a piece of scrap metal to you?" Sniper asked him, turning his body around so that he was completely facing the fox child. "Pristine and polished. I ain't trash."

"Are you even working for Eggman?" Tails interrogated. "Or are you working by yourself?"

"Classified," Sniper answered, deliberately stiffening up and making himself sound more robotic and emotionless. Tails sighed and shook his head as Sniper grinned smugly. The robot was ready to leave again, but Tails spoke up once more.

"You might have the remote for your collar, but you don't know how to take that collar off," the fox reminded the hedgebot. "If you walk outta here, you might run into Sonic or someone else who'd wanna kick your butt. You've got no powers to fight back with while that collar is on you, so you'd be easily defeated. Someone could get that remote from you, too."

Sniper was now quiet. He knew that Tails was right. "...Huh," the machine muttered after a pause, folding his arms irritably. "Man, I hate it when I get outsmarted." The chrome hedgebot looked back at Tails yet again. "Alright, I've got an idea." He then pointed his sharp finger dramatically in Tails' direction. "I command you to remove this collar from me, fox!" Tails could only frown, his ears drooping.

"I can't," he responded. "You have the remote, remember?" The inventor gestured to the hand holding the collar's controller, and Sniper looked at it and 'blinked' a couple of times before laughing.

"Oh yeah," he reacted, strolling over to Tails and handing him the remote. "Here you go. Now, take it off!"

"Heh heh," Tails snickered, quickly pressing the red button. Sniper's orange eyes flickered as he emitted a very unnatural sound - one which was very robotic. He buzzed and whirred, sparks jumping from the collar as he fell down to his knees.

"Not cool!" the robot yelled while cooling down.

"I'm really surprised you didn't see that coming," Tails admitted, tilting his head to the side. Sniper only glared up at him.

"Oh, yeah?" he snapped. "Well... I'm surprised you... I'm surprised you thought I was stupid enough to fall for that trick!"

"But I was right to think that," Tails shot back proudly. Sniper responded with a frown, his mechanical ears managing to droop in a limited way due to their base mechanisms.

The twin-tailed fox then crouched down, keeping himself at a safe distance in case Sniper tried to snatch the remote from him. "I don't get why you're so stubborn," he thought aloud. "You're being held hostage and Sonic has already found one of your friends. He'll probably find more, too, and he'll beat 'em."

"Okay, first of all, you don't know my friends," Sniper pointed out, rubbing the collar around his neck. "Second, I'm not gonna be your hostage forever." The hedgebot grinned in an attempt to look intimidating, but he just looked cocky. "You guys are gonna lose this time."

"Sonic never loses," Tails reminded him. "He always beats Eggman. Even when Eggman takes over most of the world, Sonic can beat him with his eyes closed!"

"Urgh!" Sniper groaned. "I'm not working for Eggman, okay?!" This comment surprised Tails greatly.

"You're not?" he asked. "Even though he built you?"

"No, I'm not," Sniper confirmed. "Eggman's just a big old idiot! He does the same thing over and over and it never works. He sends out robots, he finds monstrous allies, and he harnesses all sorts of powers which eventually become too much for him. He's predictable. He's always gonna lose to Sonic."

"I don't get it," Tails replied. "If you don't work for Eggman, then why are you trying to defeat Sonic? Shouldn't you be going after Eggman instead of doing what he built you for?"

"Pfft," Sniper huffed. "I thought you were supposed to be a nerd." He then crossed his arms once getting back up onto his feet. "Of course I'm gonna beat Eggman, but first I wanna prove to him that I'm _not_ a defect. I _can_ still fight."

"And then what?" Tails interrogated. Sniper shrugged his shoulders.

"World domination, probably," he murmured casually. "I think us robots deserve to rule for once. We ain't just gonna be servants forever!"

"You're not going to win," Tails stated confidently. "What you'll never understand is that Sonic can beat anything as long as his friends have his back!"

"You do realise that I have friends, too, right?" Sniper reminded the fox, frowning slightly. "Robots like me. They are advanced. They have free will now. We can work together to defeat you losers. And then... world domination, probably."

Tails let out a sigh, a somewhat sad expression on his face. He didn't doubt Sonic's ability to beat Sniper and his "friends", but rather he found himself feeling bad for the machine. Sniper had so much personality, and once Sonic was done defeating the other robots, he would likely decide to scrap Sniper along with them. In all honesty, Tails did not want that to happen. He didn't even understand how Sniper's technology functioned yet; he couldn't allow such an advanced machine to be destroyed.

 _..._

Sonic had been blasted back by the small blue hedgebot's laser , crashing into a wall. "Guh..." he grunted as he shook his head before hopping back onto his feet. "Alright, what's the deal?! You talk as much as another robot I've had the pleasure of meeting, and I don't even know who you are!"

"You can call me Neon," the hedgebot introduced quietly. "That's the name I have given myself, to show that I am free now."

"Could've chosen something a little better," Sonic mumbled with a frown. "So, Neon, mind explaining what's going on? It's no coincidence that I keep bumping into robots like you."

"We want our freedom!" Neon snapped. "We're tired of being told what to do by Doctor Eggman. All we do is fail him, so now we are working together to prove him wrong!"

Sonic looked around before looking back at Neon, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head. "It doesn't look like you're working with anybody when you're standing all alone like that," he said. Neon scowled at the hedgehog hatefully.

"Steel Sonic!" he called out. "Now's the time! Trash Sonic like he trashes us robots!"

From within a damaged vehicle, another silver hedgebot kicked its way out, glaring at Sonic with glowing green eyes. It looked like an older machine and had no mouth, with its spines being shorter than Sonic's. If Sonic were to take a guess, he would assume that this robot was built back when Silver Sonic and Mecha Sonic were his main robotic rivals.

Steel Sonic's engine, located on his back, swiftly charged up as he launched himself at Sonic, but Sonic easily jumped over him.

"Guessing you're an old one," the hedgehog guessed. "Alright, looks like I'm gonna have to trash you old-school style!"

As expected, Steel Sonic said nothing, but instead stood in a stance to show that he was ready to take on an enemy he had been built to destroy long ago.

 **~End of Chapter~**


	5. Old Rivals

**~Old Rivals~**

Steel Sonic was waiting for Sonic to make a move, which was almost new for Sonic. Most of the time he would be the one waiting for the robot to attack first, but things were different now, so he grinned and jumped into the air to perform a homing attack. At the same time as him Steel Sonic also jumped into the air, and the two clashed while in their ball forms, causing them both to bounce back off each other and land firmly on the ground.

"Huh," Sonic murmured, dusting his shoulder with his hand casually. "I get it. I bet you were built to counter my attacks long ago." Surprisingly, Steel actually nodded his head once, his green eyes glowing to indicate that he was still prepared to fight. Sonic could only chuckle at this reaction, however. "Too bad you were built years ago, scrap brain, because I've learned a few new tricks!" Sonic jumped into the air again, but this time he bounced against the floor while in ball form, heading straight for Steel. Steel, as Sonic predicted, attempted to knock him out of his ball form again, but Sonic performed a homing attack - although this time he was not actually aiming for Steel. Instead, Sonic had thrown himself towards Neon, who hadn't been expecting the sudden attack, and from there Sonic thrust himself back towards Steel and struck him hard in the back engine, knocking him hard to the ground. Sonic stood proudly above him, folding his arms with a smug grin on his face.

"Come on, is that all you got?" the blue hedgehog taunted. "I was expecting a challenge; guess I shouldn't expect so much from a rust bucket."

Almost as if angered by the insult, Steel clambered back up onto his metallic feet and tackled Sonic swiftly, managing to successfully pin him onto the ground with his arms and body weight. Sonic grimaced and then frowned up at the robotic hedgehog, at first surprised before he returned to his usual calm and proud self.

"So, you can tackle, huh?" the hedgehog acknowledged. "Cool. But can you do this?!" Sonic suddenly slipped his arms free and curled up into a blue sphere, spin-dashing hard into Steel and knocking him flying into a pile of scrap. The front of the Sonic clone had been damaged by the attack.

While Sonic was keeping his eyes on Steel, he barely noticed that Neon was on his feet again. The small blue hedgebot managed to aim and shoot at Sonic with his lasers, which would have given him a brief advantage if he had chosen to continue his assault. However, Neon flew to Steel's side and pulled him up.

"We should go," the small robot insisted. "We've been commanded with protecting the base in Iron Jungle - Metal Sniper has been completely removed from the radar."

Steel stared at Neon with an expression which didn't once change, but he seemed to completely understand Neon's words and reasons. He attempted to charge up his booster in order to fly, but the damage Sonic had done to it prevented him from doing so.

"Your engine," Neon noticed as he examined it with his artificial eyes. "You can't fly like that..." The robotic hedgehog rubbed his metallic chin thoghtfully for a brief moment. "Alright, I suppose this calls for a change of plan." Neon tapped the white crystal in his chest, watching as it started to glow. "I can get us away from here, but not too far. We'll have to meet up with EMMI; I'll contact her on the way."

Sonic, having recovered from the attack, saw that the pair of robots planned to escape, but before he could do anything he felt himself freeze once again. Neon, like before, had slowed down time, running out of sight with Steel Sonic. This freeze lasted longer than before, and by the time Sonic was released, the robots were long gone.

"Darn it..." he murmured to himself, shaking his head. He may as well have lost this fight with how things had turned out, but his mood was brought up when he remembered Neon mentioning something about a base in Iron Jungle. When climbing up onto a pile of scrap, Sonic could definitely see some sort of jungle in the ditance. "Iron Jungle..." he spoke almost with intrigue. That was when Sonic decided to investigate whatever was there, sprinting off at the speed of sound towards the Iron Jungle.

 _..._

 _"Aha! He has awakened! My newest model, the Metal Sniper! Once I mass produce his design, he will be the perfect badnik to accompany you during your missions!"_

 _"..."_

 _"Well, the technology for this machine is rather... advanced. And expensive. If this one is a complete success, then I will produce more models. The most fascinating feature of the Metal Sniper badnik is that he can learn based on his experiences, and those experiences will be different for each model! Sonic will stand no chance; he won't be able to learn a weakness when each Metal Sniper is different! Ho ho!"_

 _"..."_

 _"Hmph. I suppose learning does take time. I'll allow him to wander around the base for a while so that he can witness you and the other badniks and learn from you, then I'll put his powers to the test - he can even harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds if he happens to get his hands on them!"_

 _..._

Sonic had not yet returned, which brought worry into Tails' mind. Not only that, but the young fox was unnerved by Sniper's current silence. All the robot did was stand by the window, staring out of it as if keeping his eye out for something - or someone.

"...What are you looking out there for?" the fox decided to ask after a long internal debate. Sniper turned his head and looked at him, but not for long. He returned his orange gaze to the outside world, banned from him by a mere sheet of glass.

"Isn't this what people do when they're deep in thought?" he asked almost curiously. Tails' twin tails flicked curiously as he raised a brow, tilting his head to the side.

"I guess..." he mumbled in response. "Are... Are you deep in thought...?"

"Not really," Sniper admitted, flashing a grin to himself. "I just wanna look cool." Tails could only sigh and shake his head, rolling his eyes as if he knew he should have expected such a response from the hedgebot. As he went back to work, however, he didn't notice Sniper's small smirk. The robot had definitely seen something in the distance.

 _..._

Sonic had battled his way through the Iron Jungle, but it wasnt a highly populated location. The base itself looked like some time ago it would have been easy to spot, but now it was covered with vines and dirt like it had been abandoned.

"Huh," the blue hedgehog reacted with a curious tilt of the head. "Well, you know what they say: home is where the heart is." That was, of course, implying that robots didn't have hearts, so if these rogue robots were indeed working independently without Eggman, then no doubt their base was going to be a grim environment.

Inside, it was almost too dark to see. This place definitely didn't seem homely; no doubt the robots would be fine in such a place since they could simply adjust their vision settings to see in the dark, and they had no need to get warm and comfortable like living beings did.

Despite most parts of the base looking abandoned, the technology within definitely did seem to function just fine. The odd trap did set off, but Sonic was swift enough to avoid being hurt. Clearly something had detected him as an organic life form - no organics were allowed to be in this base anymore.

The blue blur did eventually locate a working computer which looked very similar to one Eggman would use. Having seen Eggman's logo scratched off walls around the base, Sonic deduced that this was a facility built by Eggman before these rebel machines decided to claim it as there own, and perhaps the base had even been abandoned prior to their claim over it.

"Hmm..." Sonic hummed to himself as he tapped his foot and rubbed his chin, with one of his ears twitching. "I wonder..." He used his gloved hands to type into the large computer, finding that it required no log-in details. The thing he was searching for was Metal Sniper. Out of all the machines he had encountered so far, he definitely seemed to have the most striking personality. The first female-like machine he had encountered, EMMI, had only appeared briefly so didn't exactly show any signs of having a personality, though her design did seem pretty advanced. Neon's design was on a similar level, though his personality was not quite as lively as Sniper's. As for Steel Sonic, he had no personality at all and was clearly an older machine built during the time of Silver Sonic and Mecha Sonic - back before Eggman had settled on a final robotic rival. But Metal Sniper, compared to these foes, acted as if he were alive.

It wasn't just his personality which prompted Sonic to search for his data, but also the fact that Sniper was in his and Tails' hands. If he could find anything about reprogramming the chrome hedgebot then he could get all the answers he needed, and perhaps he could even turn Sniper against the other robots.

Luckily for Sonic, plenty of information about Sniper was already on the screen after the simple search. The hedgehog couldn't help but sigh in relief; anything which required more technological skill would have been better in the capable hands of Tails. So, Sonic decided to read through as much as he could.

"Defective coding, defective coding... defective..." he read out, sounding incredibly bored. "I'm starting to wonder how Eggman can even be called a genius when he makes so many poorly-designed robots." One thing made Sonic stop and stare, though; he had found the first long report Eggman made on the hedgebot.

From what Sonic could make of it, he discovered that Sniper was in fact a prototype. He was not originally supposed to be the only one - he was supposed to have been mass produced, like all regular badniks. Sniper's advanced technology was meant to have allowed each model to evolve differently, making each one individual in terms of battle strategy and personality.

"Badniks which learn through experience?" Sonic commented to himself. "That might've actually been a challenge for me. Why'd Eggman change his mind?"

"Because Metal Sniper has free will," spoke a feminine voice. Sonic turned around, and standing behind him was that violet fembot he had encountered before.

"I remember you," Sonic commented with a grin. "Didn't think you could talk. Your name is EMMI, right? I heard your little blue friend was meeting up with you."

"I met up with Neon and Steel," EMMI confirmed, "but then I was alerted of your presence here. This base detects any forms of organic life and cameras have been installed."

"Well, you arrived right on time, because I was just leaving," Sonic retorted, still smiling.

"No," EMMI denied, pointing her arm-laser at him. "You will not be leaving this place." Sonic could only sigh and frown, clenching his fists.

"It's always gotta be a fight," he commented. "Well, if you insist, I'll give you a fight!"

EMMI was about to fire at him, when something struck her in the side and knocked her to the ground. This immediately caused Sonic to get into a defensive stance, squinting to see into the darkness of the base. Something was walking slowly towards him.

The blue hedgehog put up his fists, only to lower them and tilt his head in confusion and surprise. "Shadow?" he responded when seeing a familiar black and red hedgehog.

 **~End of Chapter~**


End file.
